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Asuka Tanaka
This article contains major spoilers from the light novels that have not been revealed in the anime. Proceed at your own risk. is a character in the ''Hibike! Euphonium ''series. She is a third year student, the concert band's vice president, the bass section leader, and the band's drum major. She plays the euphonium. Appearance Asuka is a young teenage girl of above average height, and according to many other characters (including Hazuki Katou), she is very beautiful. She has straight, somewhat thick, black hair, which reaches to below her shoulders and she has light blue eyes. She wears thin, red circular glasses, which is her trademark. Personality Asuka has a highly playful and energetic personality, and is also very friendly and caring. Her energetic personality often comes off as extremely childish to the other band members. However, the humor and lighthearted appearance is merely a facade for a range of deeper emotions that Asuka struggles with and has repressed over the years, many of which stem from her mother's extreme parenting, and from having all contact with her father cut off by her mother. Asuka will drop her carefree act and become serious when a situation calls for such an attitude. She also can be very calm, collected, and mature. Asuka demonstrates the ability to handle a large amount of responsibility, and was actually favored by many of the other band members to be the club's president. She, however, declined. Asuka has shown a marked disinterest in the social dynamics of the band club over the years that she has participated in it, and even an indifferent attitude to the skill level of the band as a whole. This is because her main goal in participating in the club is to advance herself as a musician, and most importantly, as a euphonium player. She considers handling club drama issues to be a waste of her time because it deviates from her main objective of technical and musical improvement. Asuka does not care about the competitive glory of the band, nor whether or not the band around her sounds good or bad. As long as she continues to have a space in which she can practice, and have an allotted amount of time each day to play her euphonium, she will be content with where she is. Chronology Asuka first appears when Hazuki, Kumiko and Sapphire were to enter the club room, where they saw many students and Asuka herself play music. After chatting a little, Asuka approaches them and surprises Hazuki with a kissing face, making Hazuki trip and fall in shock. Then, Asuka opens the door and asks if they are coming to visit. After Asuka introduces herself properly, Hazuki decides that Asuka is very beautiful. During the first level of competition, Asuka appears downcast onstage and post-performance for reasons unknown to her peers. In the second light novel, Asuka learns that her father, whom she has not seen since she was very young, will be judging the final round of competition. Now that she has a cause that is as strongly personal as Noboru Taki's to help the band reach the national level of performance, Asuka begins to behave in extreme ways. The most notable instance of this is when she tries strongly to forbid Nozomi Kasaki from rejoining the club for fear that the sour relationship between Nozomi and Mizore Yoroizuka, a key player in the band's musical success, will affect Mizore's performance ability. In the third light novel, Asuka is forced by her mother to quit the band club, but eventually manages to return in time for the final competition. Relationships Students Kumiko Oumae Asuka is Kumiko's section leader and senpai, and is the one who discovers that Kumiko is a proficient euphonium player and ropes her into joining the bass section. In the first light novel, Asuka is very aware of her senpai status to Kumiko and thus always employs great discretion about her personal feelings when speaking to Kumiko. As the story progresses over the light novels, Asuka grows to care for Kumiko like a younger sister, and eventually shares the story of her father with Kumiko. On the day of Asuka's graduation, she gives a book of euphonium pieces composed by her father to Kumiko, saying that Kumiko have better use for it now than she will post-graduation. Natsuki Nakagawa Natsuki always addresses Asuka in an overly respectful way that at first appears to be sarcastic, but is later shown to be sincere and heartfelt beneath the humor. Natsuki and Asuka's dynamic is greatly similar to the relationship between Kumiko Oumae and Reina Kousaka, in that Asuka's passion and drive is very inspiring to Natsuki. When Asuka is forced to quit the band club before the final level of competition, she appoints Natsuki as her successor, telling her that it is her turn to lead. Natsuki, however, firmly declines and informs Asuka resolutely that she and the section will wait faithfully for Asuka's return. Trivia * Asuka was born on Christmas, the 25ᵗʰ of December. Navigation Category:Female Category:Characters Category:Supporting Characters